Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Cole Bros. Circus 1948 #2


1948 Cole-2, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Posted by Buckles at 1/01/2008 06:27:00 AM

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

These photos look like movie clips from one of those short 16mm films they used to show in public schools several decades ago. I believe there were 2 such films made on the Cole show. I have both copied to VHS. The 2nd film may have been done in '49.

I would like to get them commercialy copied to DVD, but many companys that do VHS to DVD will shy away from anything that might have a copyright on it.

01 January, 2008 06:47
Eric said...

Barr films had to update CIRCUS DAY in the late 1960s to account for the fact that many circuses were only appearing in arenas. The revised version opens with some shots of the exterior of the Los Angeles Sports Arena during a Ringling engagement. Then, an old clown reminisces about the days when he was with the Cole show, which serves to introduce the old footage. At the end, the old clown returns to say that, even though the big top is gone, circuses are still pretty much the same. (He was, of course, referring to circuses in the 1960s.)

01 January, 2008 12:02
Eric said...

Encyclopedia Britannia also filmed an educational film on the Cole show. Their's was shot in black & white with an emphasis on performance shots. It was cold when they filmed it as you can see people wearing hats and top coats. There is a brief shot of a banner advertsing 1949 Chevrolet cars, so might have been done early in 1949. The title is CIRCUS DAY IN OUR TOWN. It appears to have been shot on 35mm film using multiple camera crews. (During the Hannefords' riding act, Tommy tumbles into the next ring and you can clearly see a second camera crew set up and filming.) There was apparently enough footage left over to make a second film running about 10 minutes. Most school systems junked all of their 16mm films in the 1970s in favor of video tape.

01 January, 2008 19:03
Anonymous said...

To Eric,
I recall back in the 1950's when I was a kid in grade school we would all assemble in the gym on Friday afternoons to watch movies. These were educational movies that taught us everything from how we got our milk, how to brush your teeth and how to be polite on a date.

I do recall seeing the Cole Bros. film, and remember a clip of the Zacchini cannon act. I am sure that there are '50s nostolgia film collectors out there who have restored these films to good quality dvd. If anyone knows of any, please alert the blog. Those Cole Bros. films are great!

Jimmy Cole

02 January, 2008 08:10
Anonymous said...

I clearly have way too much time on my hands early in the morning. Here's the 1966 recut of Circus Day. You can watch it online and order it on DVD as part of a collection of films called Clowns and Cavemen on a single disk. Film runs 18 minutes.

http://www.avgeeks.com/pivot/entry.php?id=534

02 January, 2008 10:56
Skip Elsheimer said...

Howdy Circus enthusiasts,

I just noticed all the attention to my web site regarding the film "Circus Day". If you folks are interested, I could put together a DVD compilation of just circus-related films. I have quite a few (including "Here Comes the Circus", "Circus - Wakes Up", "Let's go to the Circus", "Circus People" and a lot more)!

Would there be an interest in such a DVD?

07 January, 2008 14:42

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